Growing up, the only alcoholics meetings that I regularly attended were at the bar. Well, those, and before that the ones in the dorm rooms, and before that, the ones behind the school building. Alcoholism is not a new problem for me, and sometimes I wish that I had discovered Alcoholics Anonymous local meetings a long time ago or attend and join christian youth group, instead of spending years of my life a virtual slave to the drink. But then I remember my alcoholics meetings and what they told me. “You get no where, by regretting the past,” my alcoholics meetings counselors used to always say, “instead, you have to embrace the future.” Thanks to my alcoholics meetings, I am learning to do just that, and I have been a recovering alcoholic who has not had a drink for going on ten years.

Of course, before you go to an alcoholics anonymous meeting, you have to admit that you have a problem, and this is no easy task for many people. Alcoholics meetings would not be necessary if everyone were able to see it when they had problems, and take the initiative to find the solution for themselves, but the truth is that many people lack the strength to do that at all. When you go to alcoholics meetings, you find out that you are not alone in your addiction and your weakness. People are addicted to many things, and our alcoholics meetings take place between meetings for drug addicts and compulsive gamblers. But, with the support of an alcoholics anonymous community, many of us can find the strength to overcome addiction that we would have been helpless against – that we were helpless against – alone.

Of course, alcoholics meetings can help by themselves, but they are never enough for most people. A good twelve step program can be a start, but it must be complimented by other things. Religious faith and a supportive community and family are of paramount importance to overcoming alcohol addiction. You must have friends with whom you can discuss your alcoholics meetings, friends who you can open yourself up to and not feel judged or criticized. You must have friends who want to listen, and help you in the long hours between your alcoholics meetings. Otherwise, you will fall for the same temptations that have taken so many others, and will slip back into alcoholism. You do not want that to happen to you.